How did the events of 1789 result in a constitutional monarchy in France?
NNO COUNTRY FELT THE CONSEQUENCES of the American Revolution more deeply than France. The American Revolution undeniably fueled dissatisfaction with the old monarchical order in France. Yet the French Revolution did not mirror the American example. It was more radical and more complex, more influential and more controversial, more loved and more hated. For Europeans and most of the rest of the world, it was the great revolution of the eighteenth century, the revolution that opened the modern era in politics.
The Three EstatesIn this political cartoon from 1789, a peasant of the third estate struggles under the weight of a happy clergyman and a plumed nobleman. The caption — “Let’s hope this game ends soon” — sets forth a program of reform that any peasant could understand. (© RMN-